Black Flag without that creepie Henry Rollins. Yes.
From the Bear at Big Smile Magazine:
Black Flag’s "The First Four Years" is exactly what its title says it is - a collection of Black Flag’s first three E.P.s and a few other songs from the early days. All of these tracks are from the years before Henry Rollins joined the band and document the band’s early development through its various line-up changes (especially with the vocalists) and stylistic evolution.
This is album made up of several important punk e.p.s. The first four tracks are especially noteworthy as they make up the "Nervous Breakdown" e.p., which is one of the most important releases from early L.A. Punk, (and even punk in general) as it had a huge impact on the scene. The title track alone is considered a classic punk anthem nowadays and other bands often cover it (with Gallows’ cover of it on their "Orchestra of Wolves" album earlier this year being the most recent high profile version). Even today it still sounds like a shot of punk fury stunning you into submission. The other three tracks from the e.p. are "Fix Me," "I’ve Had It" (which has a killer raw guitar riff, and "Wasted." The lead singer for this first record is Keith Morris, who later left Black Flag to form the Circle Jerks. Not many people outside of L.A. saw him with Black Flag, which is a shame because he was said to be the most entertaining of the band’s singers on the stage (if not necessarily the best vocalist they ever had). Anyway the "Nervous Breakdown" record is one that is already discussed in punk history books and has earned its place in the seminal punk canon (whatever that may be).
Tracks 5-9 comprise the "Jealous Again" e.p., which features Chavo on lead vocals (and Chuck Dukowski singing track 9). There is a noticeable hardening in the musical sound with these tracks that continues on through the rest of the album as the band continues its development over the years. This section contains such songs as "Jealous Again," "Revenge," "White Minority," "No Values," and "You Bet We’ve Got Something Personal Against You!"
Tracks 10-16 are all sung by Dez Cadena, Chavo’s successor as lead singer, and Rollins’ predecessor, with track 10 being from the "Cracks in the Sidewalk" comp., 11-13 comprising the "Six Pack" e.p., and 15-16 being the "Louie Louie" single. This section is particularly notable for early versions of the songs "Six Pack" and "Damaged I," which both appeared later on the "Damaged" LP with Rollins on vocals.
As a whole this album is a great portrait of the early Black Flag, showing clearly the band’s musical development and increasingly harsh sound.. Even Rollins once said that this was his favorite Black Flag album. No Black Flag collection is truly complete without it.
Technical Information:
Artist: Black Flag
Album: The First Four Years
Year: 1983
Audio Codec(s): FLAC8
Encoding: Lossless
Rip: EAC split tracks
Avg. bitrate: 903 kb/s
Sample rate: 44100 Hz
Bits per sample: 16
Channels: 2
File size: 167 MB
Length: 0:25:58
Personnel:
Keith Morris: vocals (tracks 1-4)
Chavo Pederast: vocals (tracks 5-8)
Dez Cadena: guitar, vocals (tracks 10-16)
Greg Ginn: guitar
Chuck Dukowski: bass, vocals (track 9)
Brian Migdol: drums (tracks 1-4)
ROBO: drums (tracks 5-16)
Tracklisting:
01. Nervous Breakdown (2:10)
02. Fix Me (0:58)
03. I've Had It (1:26)
04. Wasted (0:51)
05. Jealous Again (1:52)
06. Revenge (1:00)
07. White Minority (1:03)
08. No Values (1:46)
09. You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You! (0:53)
10. Clocked In (1:33)
11. Six Pack (2:20)
12. I've Heard It Before (1:40)
13. American Waste (1:33)
14. Machine (1:28)
15. Louie Louie (1:19)
16. Damaged 1 (4:07)
The First Four Years Megaupload Link